Trump Backtracks on Mexico Having to Pay for His Wall Outright

US President Donald Trump’s proposal of a border wall between the US and Mexico became a lynchpin of his 2016 Presidential campaign – and it has continued to be the ongoing focus of a concerning period in current US politics. The country remains under a partial governmental shutdown as the President continues to demand $5.7 billion from Congress to pay for the perimeter to be built. The Democrats, newly in charge of the House of Representatives, continue to refuse to bow to such requests. In the meantime, it appears that Trump has majorly backtracked on what was once a running theme of his wall demands.

Trump has claimed that Mexico will be ‘paying for (the) wall indirectly many, many times over”, while stating that he “obviously never meant Mexico would write a cheque”. While the President hasn’t backed down from his insistence that subsidies be found from the bordering country to help set up his perimeter, his suggestion that an outright payment from Mexico won’t be expected does goes somewhat against the previous rhetoric as displayed during the 2016 campaign trail.

According to Independent Online, Trump’s campaign website had at one time stated that a one-time payment would be expected from the country to the tune of ‘$5-$10 billion’. The President’s latest soundbites therefore run a little at odds. Trump is banking on a new deal, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, to be brought in through Congressional approval. “It probably will be (approved)”, the President confidently stated.

The President continues to seek taxpayer funding for the wall, and the stalemate between his team and the Democrats represented in Congress appears to be growing ever bitterer, with scores of governmental officials remaining unpaid following the initial partial shutdown. Entering its 21st day as of Friday 11th January, it is not yet clear where the divide will end.

Talks have recently broken down further midweek after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed that Democrats would not be negotiating on the wall’s funding, following Trump’s claims in a national TV address that they were helping to bring about a ‘humanitarian crisis’. The Democrats, meanwhile, have demanded that Trump reopens government without funding. The President has even suggested that he may call a state of emergency to sap funds from elsewhere in the government to pay for the wall to be built. Will this come to pass?